Oxidizing compositions, for example those designed for hair bleaching or decolouration, permanent coloring, or permanently reshaping of hair, lead to irreversible physicochemical changes to the hair. These irreversible physicochemical changes can manifest themselves as increased roughness, brittleness and dryness leading to less manageable hair. The use of conditioners within the coloring, bleaching or perming process is known. Conditioning materials can be added to the colorant or perming product, or alternatively these can be supplied within the colorant or perming kit as a separate conditioner, and can thereby be applied to the hair either during the coloring or perming event or after rinsing. As described in EP 0 275 707, it is known to use aminosilicones for this purpose. However, it has also been established that, in the case of more polar hair, such as that obtained after successive oxidation events, aminosilicone deposition is greatly reduced and cannot provide the same level of benefit in hair condition. Without wishing to be bound by theory, the reason for this may be that there exists a surface energy incompatibility between the polar chemically damaged hair with the relatively non-polar aminosilicone leading to poorer adhesion.
Conditioning composition comprising a functionalized silicone conditioning agent which deposits evenly on all types of hair which occur in today's human population, from undamaged, virgin hair, at the one extreme, to hair exposed to multiple oxidative dye treatments, at the other, go some way to improving the conditioning effect of hair treated with an oxidizing composition, both in the short and long term after application. Such compositions have been described in EP 1 358 865 and EP 1 356 800, however, even these do not deliver an optimal conditioning effect to the hair over the interval from application, through to repeated washing cycles.
Summarising, it is an object of the present invention to produce from an oxidizing treatment system, a superior conditioner that deposits evenly and durably on hair of differing damage states, from undamaged, virgin hair, at the one extreme, to hair exposed to multiple oxidative treatments, at the other, and which does not wash off so rapidly that the conditioning benefit is lost to the consumer.
In response, we have found that superior conditioning could be obtained by providing a cationic polymer to the hair while it is subjected to the oxidising treatment, and then providing to said oxidised hair a functionalized silicone. The combination of these two subsequent treatments delivers a greater conditioned feel than either when used as a standalone conditioning treatment. The two conditioning systems synergise to deliver a superior level of conditioning immediately after and during the early stages of washing post oxidizing treatment, while still retaining the long term conditioning benefits. This cannot be achieved by using the silicone alone, without causing a trade off in so-called “clean-feel” attributes.